


in hopes of a better tomorrow

by melodyinlove



Series: actions and consequences [2]
Category: MXM (Band), NU'EST, Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Guardian Angels, M/M, One Shot, Sequel, big emo, past bugipaca
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 20:39:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15871329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melodyinlove/pseuds/melodyinlove
Summary: in a marriage where he isn't truly happy, jonghyun is given three chances to get the happy ending he wants.





	in hopes of a better tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> this is a sequel, so i really do hope you read let's run away now before this. if you have read it, i assure you that you don't have to reread the 22k word fic as i put enough context for you to remember what happened during the prequel.

 

Jonghyun and Minhyun are spending time in the library during their senior year of college. Although their final year of their undergrad is more laid back in terms of classes because they took all their harder classes the previous years, they still have their library dates. This time they are working on applications for grad school. They had their spot at the top floor of the library, all the way in the back where hardly anyone went. Sometimes, they even had the whole area to themselves and would sneak kisses here and there.

“I was thinking about just applying to our school’s grad program. We’re one of the best in computer science and I wouldn’t have to move, but that’s just my opinion. What do you think?” Jonghyun twirls his pen in his hand as he looks at his boyfriend across from him.

“Hmmm, you do make a good point,” Minhyun looks through his notes of the grad programs he made, “Our school’s program for business is pretty good too, but I was thinking that not a lot of people do their undergrad and grad at the same place. There’s a school thirty minutes away from us that’s pretty good for both our majors. I don’t know if you looked into them.”

Jonghyun grabs Minhyun’s notes and looks over them, “Hm, yeah. If we go here, it’ll be not too far of a commute. I guess there’s no harm applying here. This is exciting.”

“That’s if we get in though,” Minhyun sighs, “Why are we signing up for _more_ school? This is torturous.”

“It’s only because of one word,” Jonghyun hands back Minhyun’s notes, looking at his boyfriend with a grin, “Money.”

Minhyun raises an eyebrow at Jonghyun for a brief second before laughing, “You’re not wrong, babe. More money towards our future, right?”

Jonghyun can feel his face flush and he can’t contain his smile. He holds his boyfriend’s hand with his eyes almost sparkling, “Yes, of course.”

“We can do this then! I believe it!” Minhyun mirrors Jonghyun’s smile as he raises their hands in joy.

“I love you,” Jonghyun cooes.

Minhyun kisses the back of Jonghyun’s hand, “And I love you too.”

  
  
  


Jonghyun has never felt as dirty than he does tonight, but if he doesn’t do anything then he’ll know how the story will end.

He looks over at his bed and sees Minhyun fast asleep. It’s typical for a Friday night and because of his early morning classes, Minhyun has adjusted his sleeping schedule to sleeping early and waking up early. Minhyun used to wait for Jonghyun before sleeping on the weekends, but nights are when Jonghyun games all night and Minhyun didn’t have the energy to wait. Tonight, he has been playing with Minki for some time, but he calls it quits early, telling his friend that he’s tired. Minki whines that they shouldn’t end in the middle of their winning streak but all Jonghyun can do is apologize.

After turning off his desktop, Jonghyun walks over to Minhyun’s desk as quietly as possible. Minhyun is a heavy sleeper, but Jonghyun can’t risk getting caught so he’s still cautious. Everything on Minhyun’s desk is neatly organized unlike his. His folders are sorted from class assignment, notes, and applications. Jonghyun usually never looks through Minhyun’s stuff because he has always been sure he knows everything on it anyway.

He would’ve been oblivious to a particular application if he didn’t know better.

Jonghyun picks up Minhyun’s application folder. In it, there’s several applications to many graduate programs that Jonghyun already knows about, but at the back of the folder, there is clearly one he can barely understand. Despite not having the fluency to read through it, Jonghyun knows that this is for a career at a major Japanese company. It’s not a surprise to him, but he can’t help but still feel hurt that this is a secret to him. Minhyun could’ve told Jonghyun about it a long time ago when he first came across it, but he didn’t.

With a heavy sigh, Jonghyun pulls it out of the folder and puts the folder back in its place. He then walks over to his own desk and hides it in his mess. His heart feels heavy and he can’t help but feel guilty, but he’ll bring it up in the morning. For now, he gets into bed and cuddles up next to Minhyun until he falls asleep.

  
  


“You’re finally awake,” Minhyun laughs as he kisses Jonghyun on the forehead, “I thought you were never going to wake up. It’s already 1pm.”

The sun shines right on Jonghyun’s eyes that he has no choice but to wake up. Hearing that it’s already 1pm surprises him as he knows he slept earlier than he would’ve. He groans as he gets up, instinctively holding the other’s hand, “Minki and I were on a winning streak, so we stayed up late.”

Minhyun laughs as he rolls his eyes jokingly, not even surprised at this point, if he’s honest, as Jonghyun games almost every single night, “Of course. You’re lucky I’m a heavy sleeper and I didn’t wake up to you sneaking into bed late.”

“I know I’m lucky,” Jonghyun kisses the back of Minhyun’s hand, looking into his eyes with pure love in them, “I’m the luckiest man in the world to have you as my boyfriend.”

Minhyun can feel his cheeks warm up. Jonghyun’s words never fail to fluster his boyfriend despite being together for years. He stands up with a smile and Jonghyun jumps out too. Usually, he stays in bed until Minhyun has to drag him out, but of course, today is different.

“By the way…” the hesitation in Minhyun’s voice is evident, “have you seen… anything around the apartment? I misplaced something and I can’t find it.”

Jonghyun plays innocent for a bit as he walks to his desk to unplug his charged phone, “Anything? You’re gonna have to be more specific here.”

Minhyun bites on his lower lip, “It’s just an application that I wanted to look at this morning, but I can’t find it.”

There’s a pause as Jonghyun tries to collect his thoughts, determining the best way to handle the situation. He pulls out the application from his desk and holds it in the air as he looks at his boyfriend, “You mean this one? The one you never told me about?”

The other’s eyes widen as he sees what he has been looking for all morning, “Babe, I swear I was going to tell you about it.” Minhyun walks over to try to grab the papers from Jonghyun’s hand, but Jonghyun moves it away from his grasp.

“Yeah? And when was that? When you already get accepted and move away to Japan?” Jonghyun can feel the bitterness in his heart from this situation coming back, “Why did you try to hide this from me? Do you know how much long distance wi‒, _can_ change our relationship?”

Minhyun’s eyes get watery, “I’m sorry. Things just aren’t for certain right now and I don’t want you to give everything up because of something like this.”

Jonghyun sighs deeply, putting the application on his desk, “Can you just…” he looks up in his boyfriend’s eyes with a small pout, “not apply then?” He takes a deep breath, “I mean, if it’s okay with you. I’m just… scared because it’s another country.”

“Of course,” Minhyun pulls Jonghyun into a hug, his head leaning against the other’s, “I’m okay with that as long as I still have you in my life.” He pulls away and kisses Jonghyun’s forehead, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Jonghyun smiles warmly.

Minhyun holds Jonghyun’s hand, “Now, you have to go grocery shopping with me,” he chuckles, “I promised the guys I’d cook for them since they’re coming over.”

“Yeah sure. I need some more snacks. I ran out last night.”

Minhyun looks behind Jonghyun at the other’s desk which is covered in empty wrappers and chip bags, “I can tell. You should probably clean up after yourself before you buy more.”

Jonghyun grins mischievously, “Why should I when I have you, my personal vacuum cleaner, as a boyfriend?”

Minhyun groans and storms off, in which Jonghyun runs after with him and holds onto him tightly, “You know I’m just joking, babe.”

“I know,” Minhyun ruffles his boyfriend’s hair before smacking him lightly on the face, “You’re just a bit of a dumbass.”

Jonghyun kisses the other on the cheek, “ _Your_ dumbass.”

“A dumbass nonetheless.”

 

The rest of the day goes just as Jonghyun remembers it. They have a sweet grocery date and Jonghyun gets nagged by Minhyun. Dongho and Minki bickered at the dinner table, while Aron sucked up to Minhyun. Afterwards, they play video games and banish Jonghyun from playing with them. The dynamic they have as five is so comforting and Jonghyun missed it a lot. The day comes to a close and Minhyun and Jonghyun snuggle into bed together, content after a fun day.

Jonghyun expects to wake up to his happy ending just as he was promised, one with Minhyun just how it was supposed to be.

But then why was it that when he woke up, he found himself in bed next to his actual husband, Im Youngmin?

  
  
  
  
  
  


It’s been years since Youngmin and Jonghyun have been married. They ended up together after Jonghyun cheated on Minhyun with Youngmin because of Jonghyun’s pent up frustration from their long distance relationship. Their dating life was filled with lies and jealousy, but Jonghyun initially had hope that once they tied the knot, everything would be okay.

_“We spent our college years together loving each other and I thought it was going to last until forever. I don’t care if you did the most horrible thing in the world. I will always love you. Even if it hurts me, even if it kills me inside, I will always love you because you are you, Kim Jonghyun. I promised you back then that my love for you is unconditional and here I am, telling you once again. Don’t get married and let’s run away now.”_

Minhyun never contacted Jonghyun again after crashing the wedding. He barged in with hopes of Jonghyun having last minute thoughts to still be with Minhyun, but as much as that was true, Jonghyun declined, feeling like it was selfish of him to do that to not just Youngmin and his family, but Minhyun. It would be selfish of him to not pay for his sins and live his happy ending. Minhyun deserved better than that.

As much as Jonghyun believes that he made the right decision that day, the pain in his heart never went away. Therefore, he turned to drinking because it’s the only thing that numbs his emotions. Because of this, his marriage has been filled with so many fights about the stupidest things. Jonghyun always wants to yell and get mad but he can’t blame Youngmin for his emotions towards Minhyun so he picks at everything else.

At the end, they always reconcile. Sober Jonghyun reassures himself that he loves Youngmin, but he knows he can’t help but regret how his life has played out throughout the years. It constricts his life that he feel like his heart can never feel at peace.

It’s a warm night in early August when Jonghyun finds himself drinking alone as usual. He does drink sometimes with coworkers or even his university friends, but if none of them want to drink with him he doesn’t mind being alone either. He knows his drinking habits are bad, especially since the lady working isn’t even phased by how often he comes anymore. Without even asking, she always hands him two bottles of soju and a shot glass as he sits down. She’s tried worrying for him before, but he always reassures that he’s okay even when he’s not.

Since he’s drinking alone, there really is no point in pouring the soju in the shot glass as he can just drink straight from the bottle, but he enjoys the sight of the alcohol filling to the brim of the glass. The first bottle goes by faster than he knows it.

The reason why he’s drinking today is because today is Minhyun’s birthday, making it 10 times harder to get him out of his head. He didn’t even bother to text Dongho, Minki, and Aron about drinking with him because he knows they’re busy with him. They flew to Japan to see him according to social media. Jonghyun’s pretty sure Minhyun is going to stay in Japan for the rest of his life, but it’s for the better because he doesn’t think he can handle seeing him still.

It’s when Jonghyun is almost done with his second bottle that someone sits in front of him. He doesn’t pay attention at first as he’s pouring the shot. He figures it’s Youngmin or one of his co-workers, but when he looks up, it’s no one he recognizes.

“So, Kim Jonghyun. Youngmin or Minhyun?”

Jonghyun looks at the other. He’s an older man with sharp features and tanned skin, completely unfamiliar to him. He’s dumbfounded, confused to why this person not only knows his name but knows about his conflicting feelings about Youngmin and Minhyun, something that his best friend doesn’t even know. “Who are you and what do you want?”

The man laughs, “Why can’t you answer my question? Is it that hard?”

“Shut up,” Jonghyun hisses as he glares at him.

“Is the guilt of hurting Minhyun still hurting you? Is that why you’re here?” the man provokes with a smile.

“Shut up, I said,” his grip on the bottle tightens as he gets more and more upset, “I don’t even know you. You have no right to say any of this to me.”

The stranger remains unphased, “But I know you. I know how miserable you’ve been since you cheated on Minhyun with Youngmin.”

“SHUT UP, PLEASE,” Jonghyun’s eyes start filling with tears. He looks at the stranger who has the same silly grin on his face and he’s had enough. Standing up and letting go of the soju bottle in his hands, he punches the other in the face.

Or well, he tries to as his fist seems to go right through him.

Shocked as he is, Jonghyun sits back down, eyes widened as he can’t find the words to say. He looks around and no one in the tent seems to have noticed anything.

“You’re the only one who can see me, Jonghyun,” the other smiles, “So, answer me. Youngmin or Minhyun?”

Jonghyun takes a deep breath as he stares at the table, “I… I don’t know.”

“You do know, you just don’t want to admit it,” the other scoffs, his arms crossed, “Just answer my question truthfully.”

His words feel like they’re stabbing Jonghyun in the chest, “I choose Minhyun,” he says softly. Jonghyun looks up at the other, “It doesn’t even matter though. Why are you doing this?”

“Because,” he leans back in his chair, “I can give you a chance at the happy ever after that you want with Minhyun.”

Jonghyun rolls his eyes, “I don’t need your advice to tell me to go to divorce Youngmin and go to Japan. That is not possible.”

“Oh, I know you wouldn’t do that,” the older man says, “I’m talking about time travel where you can change your past so you can get the love story you want.”

“Not possible. I don’t believe you,” Jonghyun gets up out of his seat, “I don’t need to hear these lies right now.”

He begins to walk away when the other calls out for him, “Are you sure? Aren’t you the least bit curious to see if I’m not just spouting bullshit?”

Jonghyun stops as he tries to think about it, but with him being drunk, he can’t think about this logically. He turns around and sits back down, “Can you at least tell me who you are first?”

“You can call me Joon. I’m your guardian angel basically. I’m sure it’s hard to believe but,” he flutters his wings in sight, “I think this is enough to convince you.”

His eyes go wide eyed as he looks at his wings, “But aren’t guardian angels usually supposed to watch from afar?”

Joon laughs, “Typically yes, but,” he leans forward as he looks at the other with a bright smile, “You’re an exception, mainly because I can’t think of any other way to help you.”

Jonghyun stays quiet for a bit, trying to take this all in before speaking, “So, Joon hyung, how is this going to work?” Jonghyun crosses his arms as he squints at the angel.

“I’ll give you three chances to go back in time and try to fix a part of your past so that you can end up with Minhyun. All you have to do is think of the moment in time you want to relive before you sleep and you’ll end up exactly there. Once you think you’ve changed your life for the better, you go back to bed and think of present day. Every single action you make in the past will affect your future, so you must keep that in mind.”

Jonghyun shrugs as he looks at the other, “I mean, why the hell not? It’s worth a shot, I suppose.”

Joon smiles at Jonghyun, “Good luck. I’m rooting for you.”

  


Jonghyun takes a taxi back home after paying for his drinks. It’s already pretty late as he sees Youngmin in bed. He thought Youngmin would at least wait for him to get home before falling asleep, but it doesn’t matter too much to him. After taking a shower and brushing his teeth, he gets under the covers and tries to think of what moment in time he would change.

_“What do you mean you’re moving to Japan?”_

_“You’re joking, right? Tell me that you’re joking, Hwang Minhyun.”_

If Minhyun never studied abroad in Japan, Jonghyun and Minhyun would’ve never had to do long distance. Jonghyun thinks that maybe he found out earlier and convinced Minhyun not to go, they would’ve been able to last. As he closes his eyes, he thinks of when they started looking through graduate school programs together as he figures that would be a good time to find out about Minhyun’s potential, at the time, job opportunity in Japan.

  
  
  
  
  


When Jonghyun wakes up to Youngmin next to him, he almost yells at him right there, but thankfully he stops himself because that clearly is not a good idea. Youngmin shifts in his sleep and Jonghyun can’t help but kiss his forehead. When he looks so peaceful like this, Jonghyun can’t deny that his husband looks lovable.

He turns around and frowns as he remembers what happened last night or would it be considered three nights ago considering whatever he experienced was two days worth? It’s a bit confusing. Did Joon lie to him? He scoffs to himself. Maybe he was just hallucinating last night and the revisit into the past was just a dream. That’s probably it.

Jonghyun gets out of bed and washes up, getting ready for work. Usually Youngmin would be also getting ready, but his company has been going through internal struggles in management that they haven’t had much to do. It would be routine for the two to eat breakfast together and grab coffee before splitting ways to their respective companies.

As he brushes his teeth, he looks at his free hand. There is nothing wrong with it, but the feeling of holding Minhyun’s hand still lingers as it just felt so real. He looks at the mirror after spitting out his toothpaste and rinsing his mouth. Minhyun’s lips on his own felt so real as well that he can thoroughly describe the details.

His heart skips a beat as he thinks about it, but he quickly shakes it off as he reminds himself that it most likely wasn’t real.

Youngmin is usually the one to cook breakfast, so with no morning meal, Jonghyun opens the refrigerator and looks for any leftovers to eat, but finds nothing. He’ll just buy something on the way to work, he tells himself.  Once he closes the door, he sees Joon leaning against the wall casually. “Holy shit. You scared me.”

“Good morning, Kim Jonghyun,” Joon chuckles, “I guess you know what today means.”

“Yeah, that you deceived me,” Jonghyun rolls his eyes as he sits down on the dining table, sipping on the coffee he made prior, “At least I wasn’t hallucinating and I know you’re actually real.”

“No, I didn’t deceive you. You just made the wrong decision,” Joon sits down next to Jonghyun, “What you changed didn’t affect your future enough.”

Jonghyun furrows his brows, “What do you mean? I convinced Minhyun to not work in Japan and he agreed. With that, we would’ve lasted because we would’ve never been long distance.”

“Nope,” Joon shakes his head, “With what you did, Minhyun doesn’t work in Japan and goes to graduate school with you. However, he finds a well paying job in Japan after graduate school and it’s a number that you can’t tell him to decline. He goes to Japan, you two are long distance and you meet Youngmin in your job. The same thing happens again except you’re extra bitter at Minhyun for leaving you because you’ve expressed not wanting to be long distance before.”

Jonghyun puts his mug down and sighs, “Now what then?”

“You have two more chances.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


With Youngmin snuggling next to him, Jonghyun lays in bed wide awake. His day was just as normal as any other day. He went to work, came home to Youngmin and ate dinner with him, then washed up and headed straight to bed, exchanging a few kisses with his husband. The guilt in Jonghyun’s heart is heavy as he thinks about Minhyun while Youngmin is happily next to him, but with the thought of maybe Minhyun being beside him instead, he can’t shake away his thoughts.

If convincing Minhyun not to move to Japan, then what would be the answer?

Jonghyun looks at Youngmin’s innocent sleeping face and sighs. _Would it be when Youngmin confessed?_ He thinks to himself with pursed lips. The memory isn’t as clear as he has tried to push this event in his life out of his head as much as possible. His eyes close as he tried to think of that day until he finds himself falling asleep.

  
  
  
  


Jonghyun almost freaks out when he wakes up in his old apartment. The single bed pushed next to the window, the cheap mattress that pains his back, the deteriorating walls of a run down apartment ‒ it’s all so foreign to him to him now, despite years ago, this is what he called home for a while.

He looks over at the other bed. It’s nicely made as Minki was always traveling around the country for his work. Because of this, he barely has any memories with them as roommates. Once Youngmin found out about Minhyun, he asked Jonghyun to live with him, so he only spent a year or so as Minki’s roommate.

With a groan, he hops out of bed and gets ready. It takes him a little bit longer as he has to remember where everything is, but once he walks out of the room, he sees Aron smiling at him. “Wake up late?”

“Erm, yeah,” he rubs his neck sheepishly, “It’s cool though because you’re driving right?”

Aron rolls his eyes, “I bought this baby with my hard earned money for my own benefit, not to be your personal chauffeur.”

“Mmm, says the one still driving me to work,” Jonghyun laughs as he walks out the door.

“I can leave you, you know?” Aron groans as he follows the other to the parking lot, “But I won’t because I’m a good friend.”

Jonghyun skips to Aron’s car and hops inside before the older changes his mind about driving him. Once on the road, Aron opens his mouth again. “Hey, let's eat lunch together today. We’ve been working under the same company for weeks yet we haven’t eaten at the cafeteria together,” The car comes to a stop at a red light, “I wanna meet that Youngmin guy too.”

Remembering the fight he had with Aron, Jonghyun thinks it would be better if Aron doesn’t meet Youngmin. However, if he said no, it would be suspicious. Jonghyun is unsure if how to respond, but he knows if he takes too long, that’ll also seem suspicious.

“Sure, yeah. Let’s do that,” Jonghyun responds. He looks at the road and can’t help but feel like something’s off, “Are you sure you know where you’re going? Shouldn’t you have taken a right not a left?”

Aron laughs, “I’ve been working at the company way longer than you have. Sure, this car is new, but I know the path to get to work for sure,” he motions for Jonghyun to look out the window, “See, here we are. Just gotta find parking now.”

Looking at the sign, Jonghyun can’t help but laugh at himself. The workplace he was thinking of was the one he was working at as present Jonghyun, the one married to Youngmin. This is where past Jonghyun, the one still dating Minhyun, interned and where Youngmin and Jonghyun met.

 

As they walk into the building, Jonghyun feels his past memories guiding him where to go. Despite visiting Youngmin at work occasionally, his present memories are useless as they layout of the office is completely different. He walks into the economics office as casual as possible. Youngmin greets him with a warm smile and makes small talk with him about the weekend. Jonghyun doesn’t remember anything about the weekend so he makes things up, figuring it doesn’t matter much.

When it’s time to get to work, Jonghyun watches as Youngmin moves back to his cubicle, touching his cheeks and smiling like crazy. Youngmin looks around to see if anyone is watching him and Jonghyun looks at his laptop and plays innocent.

Work is very easy to him given his experience, but he takes his time on it, knowing he shouldn’t be breezing by all of this. It feels like forever until lunch comes by that he catches himself looking around a lot. He looks over at the person next to him, Noh Taehyun, pulling out beef jerky from his pocket and laughs. Their boss, Sungwoon, has a vegan rule where people can only eat vegan friendly foods because he doesn’t want the temptation. Jonghyun faintly remembers Taehyun getting yelled at for this and despite knowing he shouldn’t change anything besides things involving Minhyun, but he couldn’t help himself. “You probably shouldn’t do that, sunbae.”

Taehyun looks at Jonghyun and scoffs, “It’s fine. He’s not paying attention.”

“If you say so…” Jonghyun looks away and sure enough, a few minutes later, Sungwoon sneaks up behind Taehyun and yells at him. He doesn’t even make eye contact with them, knowing Taehyun will just nag at him for jinxing it. Seems like whether Jonghyun said anything or not didn’t change the fact that Taehyun was going to get in trouble.

 

Lunch time comes along and Jonghyun and Youngmin get there first. He tells the other about Aron wanting to eat with them and Youngmin is very excited. Jonghyun can’t help but note that meeting your friend’s friend shouldn’t be so exciting.

“Aron!” Jonghyun yells as he sees Aron looking for a seat, waving his hands to get his attention as well. The older quickly spots him and comes over with his tray of food. He takes a seat next to Jonghyun, his attention going to the one at the table he’s never met.

“Oh, uhm. Aron, this is Youngmin, my co-intern and friend and Youngmin, this is Aron, my housemate and close friend,” Jonghyun awkwardly chuckles. The two shakes hands and smile at each other before they start to eat.

“So, did you see Sungwoon get mad at Taehyun for eating beef jerky in the workroom?” Jonghyun breaks the silence with a laugh, “I told him that he probably shouldn’t eat it, but he didn’t listen to me.”

Youngmin sighs, “No one could even smell it, but of course he had to make it such a big deal. I feel bad for the guy. He had to throw away the entire bag. Sungwoon and his vegan rule is honestly so suffocating.”

“‘You’re not allowed to eat or drink anything that’s not vegan in this work space!’ It’s honestly so dumb,” Jonghyun looks at Youngmin as he imitates their boss and laughs brightly.

“Ah man, I knew Sungwoon was vegan, but I didn’t know he was like that,” Aron adds to the conversation, internally happily that he could relate somehow.

As the conversation continues, Jonghyun can’t help but notice as Aron doesn’t participate much. It’s only natural as he isn’t in the same department as them, but Jonghyun feels bad. However, he doesn’t know anything that can bring the conversation to something the three of them can all talk about.

Jonghyun also notices how Youngmin is acting towards him. If this was present Jonghyun, it would be nothing new as he always is so smiley to him and pours all his attention towards him. When Youngmin casually placed his hand on top of Jonghyun, instinctively, Jonghyun almost held his hand right there almost forgetting that he wasn’t present Jonghyun. Right now, he is past Jonghyun who is still dating Minhyun. It feels unsettling as he notices this, knowing that in his past, he didn’t do anything to stop Youngmin’s feelings. He didn’t even try to push him away. Youngmin obviously isn’t at fault for any of this because he didn’t know anything about Jonghyun’s relationship status.

Jonghyun feels stupid for not realizing how obvious Youngmin was with his feelings in the past.

He considers mentioning Minhyun right there, somehow changing the conversation topic to him with Aron, but he’s hesitant as he remembers Joon’s words.

_“Every single action you make in the past will affect your future, so you must keep that in mind.”_

Considering Youngmin’s feelings for him are pretty transparent at this point, something sudden like this might affect Youngmin and his dynamic with him and Jonghyun doesn’t want that. Yes, he knows in his heart he loves Minhyun more, but it’s not like he never loved or cared about the other. His time with Youngmin is also precious memories that he wants to find a way not to hurt Youngmin as he does this. If he’s not going to end up with Youngmin in the end, he should at least care for him.

He’ll mention it another time for sure.

  
  


The rest of the work day goes by similarly to before lunch, but once the work day is over, he heads straight to the central area to wait for Aron. Once Aron sees him, he doesn’t say a word and just gestures for the younger to follow him to his car. Usually, Aron is the talkative type that Jonghyun can tell that Aron is going to bring up Youngmin just like his memory.

Aron doesn’t even bother to turn on music as he starts driving. The windows are rolled up, so only the faint sound of the streets can be heard.

“How was work today?” Aron breaks the silence with a monotone voice.

“It was alright. Same old same old.” Jonghyun looks at the other with a soft smile, but Aron remains expressionless, his eyes glued to the road.

“That Youngmin guy seems nice.”

Jonghyun feels the fight starting once again. He wants to tell Aron right there that it isn’t what he thinks it is, but he doesn’t. “Yeah. I guess so.”

The streetlight turns red and Aron faces Jonghyun, his glare piercing like darts, “Does he know you’re dating someone?”

The young frowns as he avoids eye contact, “No, he doesn’t,” he sighs, “And before you try to say something, I just don’t know how to mention it.”

“You’ve been dating Minhyun for years now and you still don’t know?” Aron says with his eyebrows furrowed.

Jonghyun bites his lip. It’s been too long that it takes him a while to remember his old thoughts, “I‒, well,” he takes a deep breath, “Minhyun has always been by my side that I never really had to say anything, so it’s hard to find the words now.”

The light turns green and Aron focuses his gaze on the road once again, “But Jonghyun, that guy was all over you. He clearly likes you, his eyes were oozing with love for you. If Minhyun saw what I saw, he wouldn’t have liked it at all. You should have said something.”

“I didn’t realize if I’m honest,” Jonghyun looks at the other, “I’m a bit oblivious, you should know that.”

“I know. I’m just looking out for you,” the light turns red again and Aron looks at Jonghyun, “You’ll tell Youngmin about Minhyun though, right?”

Jonghyun nods, “Yes, of course.”

“Good.”

Aron looks back at the road once again and continues driving. Despite avoiding the fight and Youngmin’s confession, Jonghyun can’t help but feel unsatisfying. Reliving Aron’s comments about Youngmin make him feel frustrated all over again. He was right that Youngmin liked him, but he never liked Aron’s attitude towards the situation. It made Jonghyun feel like the bad guy, and yes, in some aspects he was, but it wasn’t like Jonghyun was cheating on Minhyun at that specific moment.

But maybe Jonghyun is just playing the blame game and Aron knew his fate before he did.

 

“How was your day today?” Minhyun cooes through the laptop screen.

Jonghyun lays in bed on his stomach, his head sunken into the pillow as he looks at his boyfriend through the laptop screen. Minhyun had texted him earlier that he had no dinner plans and wanted to video cam.“It was fine. Aron met Youngmin today, but it was a bit awkward if I’m honest.”

“Hmm, how so? Did Aron make lame jokes as usual?” Minhyun snickers, his eyes smiling with him.

“Nah, it’s just that we’re in different departments, so I didn’t know how I could bring the conversation to something all three of us could talk about, you know?” Jonghyun tries getting more comfortable by turning to his side, but looking at the screen sideways hurt his neck so he quickly moved back.

“I understand that,” Minhyun nods, “Aron himself is a bit awkward too.”

“Yeah, but how was your day?”

Minhyun groans as he rests his head on his pillow, closing his eyes for a brief moment. “It’s been stressful for sure. I thought I was good at Japanese but there’s still so many phrases I don’t know that it’s hard.” He opens his eyes and smiles, “But I’ll get through it! It’s all a learning process.”

“I’m glad you still have your fighting spirit,” Jonghyun says wholeheartedly. “Even though I haven’t been the biggest supporter of you going to Japan as much as I should be, I do admire you for taking this leap of faith. You had and still don’t have any idea what life has in store for you during all this, but you’re still going headstrong. I know that you’re going to learn and accomplish so much through this.”

Jonghyun realizes that this is something completely out of character from his past self, but he couldn’t help but say it. He _actually_ knows that Minhyun will do great things in Japan in the future and Jonghyun was never able to say those words to Minhyun because of the bitterness in his heart. The bitterness of his boyfriend last minute telling him about his job opportunity in Japan and leaving him stained his heart for the longest time. This bitterness has left him since his relationship with Youngmin started. However, he feels like the regret in his heart of not supporting his boyfriend is slowly going away.

“Wow, I didn’t expect something like this from you,” Minhyun’s eyes tear up as he looks at Jonghyun, “Thank you, babe. I’m so thankful for you. I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” Jonghyun wishes that he could hug Minhyun right there, but he’ll settle for air kisses and the sight of Minhyun’s bright smile.

Their conversation continues for a little bit longer until Minhyun gets tired and hangs up. Jonghyun closes his laptop and puts it to the side before giggling to himself like a middle school girl. It almost feels like an unlocked story in gaming terms. As he knows the route of this day was supposed to lead to a sour part of his life, he’s happy to know that the avoided fight with Aron leads to a sweet video call with Minhyun.

“This should be the right answer,” Jonghyun thinks to himself as he closes his eyes and falls asleep.

  
  
  
  
  


When Jonghyun wakes up in bed with Youngmin, he doesn’t almost yell like last time, but he is surprised. He was really sure that last night would’ve been the answer to his problems. Looking at the other side of the bed, he kisses his husband’s forehead before getting ready for work.

Jonghyun brushes his teeth quietly, but his thoughts are circulating. He feels in his heart that having the chance to be with Minhyun and experiencing those memories with him again are messing with his feelings. Yes, Jonghyun has always had feelings for Minhyun that have never went away, but he also loved Youngmin too and he wouldn’t have married him if he didn’t. But now with all that has happened, he’s not sure if his love for Youngmin is the same.

Jonghyun gets dressed and walks into the kitchen, expecting to see Joon there just like last time, but instead Youngmin is smiling at him. “Eat. I cooked breakfast.”

“I thought you weren’t going to work until later,” he sits down, looking around discretely for Joon, but he’s nowhere to be seen.

“Yeah, but I felt bad that you didn’t have breakfast yesterday so here I am. I’ll head back to bed afterwards.”

“Thanks, dear.” Jonghyun smiles at his husband before chowing down on food. Usually, something like this would make his heart flutter, but this time his heart is barely able to skip a beat.

Youngmin sits down in front of Jonghyun and eats a bit as well. They end up chatting a little bit with asking about each other’s plans for the day. Jonghyun mentions that his company has been doing well, but he jokes that sometimes he wishes they weren’t doing well so he would have less work to do.

This would be normal, Jonghyun tells himself. Chatting with his husband while eating breakfast, ready to start the new day. However, it’s not a normal day and he can’t stop the unsettling feeling from inside of him. Once done with his meal, he kisses Youngmin goodbye and drives off to work.

Work, once again, is normal. He has to fire at his interns for leaking the upcoming release of a popular boy group within their company. Jonghyun doesn’t even know how they got their hands on it considering they were barely affiliated with the music department, but the company traced the source to them. It is a shame considering he did dote over them, but it’s his job as their boss to fire them.

It bothers him for the rest of the day that he doesn’t realize that Joon has appeared at the passenger seat of his car as he’s driving back home. “Jonghyun, do you even notice me?”

Jonghyun looks over next to him and yells, “Didn’t notice you there. Sorry.” He sighs as he tries to snap back out of it, “So, what’s the reason to why it didn’t work this time? I thought it was a foolproof plan. I never get in a fight and Youngmin never confesses, so I never get into that fight with Minhyun the week after.”

“It was a better shot than last time. I’ll tell you that,” Joon smiles in reassurance, “It’s just that Youngmin would’ve found a way to confess one way or another. You told Aron that you would tell Youngmin about Minhyun, but I think you also know yourself that you would struggle to do that. Minhyun only came down the week after because you weren’t feeling well. Therefore, whenever that Youngmin confession happens, you would still be hating yourself because of it and not going to work. Once that happens and Aron tells Minhyun, that is when Minhyun comes back to the country and the same incident happens as your past.”

It’s quiet for a minute as Jonghyun processes Joon’s words, “I really would’ve never told Youngmin about Minhyun until it was too late, huh?”

“If you couldn’t even do it last night, what makes you think the you who didn’t know any better would?” Joon’s words ring in Jonghyun’s ears.

They reach Jonghyun and Youngmin’s apartment, but they stay inside of the car to talk, “Do you know what would’ve happened if I did say something last night?”

“Hmm,” Joon hums in thought, “It wouldn’t have changed much. Youngmin would’ve still confessed to you and said that he knows you have a boyfriend, but he wants to get it off his chest. This time you would feel uncomfortable being in the office and not show up. Minhyun comes back to visit and same events transpire. _However_ , this would change how… unsettling…  Youngmin was during when you guys were dating, considering this time he would know about Minhyun before the cheating.”

Jonghyun takes a deep breath. “The way you talk about the events makes me think that this whole ending up with Minhyun thing is near impossible. Is this a blessing or a punishment, Joon hyung?”

“It’s a blessing, for sure. Do you know how many people are able to travel back in time to change their future? Not many.” Joon pats his mortal on the back. “I know this seems hard, but this is you fighting destiny. There are things in your life that are meant to be, such as you meeting your group of friends, you becoming the company data research head and you marrying Youngmin. I’m going to give you one hint since it is your last chance.” Joon looks into Jonghyun’s eyes with a strong gaze, “Human willpower changes fate.”

“W-what? Huh? What do you mean‒”

“Good luck, Kim Jonghyun. I really do wish for you to win this fight against destiny.”

Before Jonghyun can ask any other questions, Joon has disappeared from his sight. He sighs as he gets out of the car and slowly walks to his apartment. Joon’s words are a lot to take in. “Why couldn’t he just be straightforward and tell me if he wants me to win?” he mutters as he takes out his keys.

He opens the door and he sees a group of people smiling at him, “Hey. I forgot you all were coming.”

The youngest of the bunch runs over to hug Jonghyun, “Hyung! It’s been so long! I missed you!”

“More than me, Daehwi?” Youngmin scoffs.

“Of course! Jonghyun hyung is my favorite hyung!” he sticks his tongue out teasingly.

Jonghyun pats Daehwi’s head and chuckles, “I missed you too, little one.”

Daehwi doesn’t let go and walks with Jonghyun still in his arms to the dining table. The second youngest hisses as he tries to pull Daehwi away, “Yah, Jinyoung would be jealous if he saw this.”

“Jinyoung will be fine, Woojin. Geez, he was actually sulking that he couldn’t hang out tonight.” Daehwi lets go and sits down, scoffing at the other.

“Are you gonna drink with us hyung?” Woojin looks to Jonghyun with a smile, “It’ll be fun.”

Jonghyun shakes his head, “Nah. I have work tomorrow early in the morning, unlike Youngmin. I’ll hang out with you guys for a bit.”

The four start pouring drinks and Jonghyun just watches. He would actually be fine drinking because he could always come in late, but he needs a clear mind before he sleeps tonight.

“Donghyun hyung, so when are you going to get married, hm?” Daehwi giggles as he’s five shots in, a typical lightweight.

“Hopefully soon,” Donghyun laughs as he takes a shot, “Just haven’t found the one like all of you.”

Jonghyun wishes he could drink at this moment. Out of all of Youngmin’s friends, Jonghyun likes Donghyun the least. Donghyun is Youngmin’s first love and despite how oblivious Jonghyun can be, Jonghyun could see that Donghyun still has feelings for Youngmin. He never mentioned it to Youngmin because he felt like it was pointless since they’re best friends, but it did bother him from time to time.

“I mean, you still have time, hyung!” Woojin smiles brightly, his snaggletooth showing, “I can set you up with Jihoon’s friend. He’s very cute, a bit soft spoken, but he’s fun to be around!”

Donghyun shakes his head, “I’m fine. It’s okay! Let’s just have fun!”

They all clink their glasses again, taking another shot. At this point, Jonghyun can’t tell which bottles are full and which are empty because they’re all just clustered in the middle. He gets up to clean, but Youngmin holds his hand, pulling him back down to sit. “Just stay, baby. You can clean up later. You’re always cleaning in the middle of our fun. Just relax.”

Jonghyun sat down and sighed. He half developed this habit because of Minhyun and half because of Youngmin. Initially, Jonghyun had always been messy and not cared about being surrounded by trash.. When dating Minhyun, he would always clean up after Jonghyun that he grew to like being in a clean environment. Youngmin, however, is just of a mess as Jonghyun used to be that he felt compelled to clean up because of it. Whenever Youngmin would whine about him cleaning up, it reminded Jonghyun of himself and how he would say that to Minhyun.

Despite everything, Jonghyun did have a fun time with Youngmin and his friends. Daehwi and his bubbliness and Woojin and his fierceness can never go wrong in a friendly hangout. Jonghyun finds out the Daehwi and Jinyoung are moving in together (finally). It took them a while because Daehwi wanted to wait until the time was right. He’s genuinely happy for them, pinching Daehwi’s cheeks and ruffling his hair to show it.

Woojin tells them that he’s planning on proposing to Jihoon soon, but he isn’t sure how yet. Jonghyun laughs as the four very drunk people try to plan out a proposal. They come up with silly ideas such as spelling out “marry me” with chicken wings or hiding the ring in the beach and Jihoon uses a metal detector to find it. He doubts that Woojin will remember any of these suggestions, even if they’re not noteworthy plans.

The clock strikes one and the three leave the apartment due to morning plans. Jonghyun sighs as he looks at his husband who is widely smiling at him like a fool, “I love youuuuuu,” Youngmin giggles as he pokes Jonghyun right in the crotch.

“Do you want something?” Jonghyun squints as he looks at Youngmin.

Youngmin places his hand on Jonghyun’s crotc, “We haven’t done anything in awhile. Let’s do something.” He tries to unzip Jonghyun’s fly, but Jonghyun places his hand on top of the other’s to stop him.

This really isn’t the time to do this, not when his emotions are all over the place and not when he’s trying to get back with his ex-boyfriend. He knows Youngmin gets a bit sensitive when he’s drunk, so he tries to think of the best way to reject him.

“How about next time when you’re sober.” Jonghyun leans forward and whispers into his husband’s ear, “I want you to remember our fun times, babe.”

“Hmph. You better,” Youngmin pouts as he moves his hand away, “Okay, but you have to carry me back to our room.”

Jonghyun can’t help but smile at how cute Youngmin is acting, holding his arms out for Jonghyun’s embrace. He obviously obliges and picks up his husband bridal style. Before his first encounter with Joon, him and Youngmin had been getting a small fights a lot so they haven’t been intimate for a while now. It must’ve bothered Youngmin, considering his whining.

He gently puts down Youngmin on their bed. “I’m just going to wash up. I’ll be back.” Jonghyun goes to the restroom and quickly washes his face and brushes his teeth, telling himself he’ll just shower in the morning. By the time he comes back into the room, Youngmin is already dozing off. “Of course,” he whispers as he gets under the covers.

Youngmin wakes back up as Jonghyun enters and he cuddles up next to him, his arms wrapping around his husband and planting a sloppy wet kiss on Jonghyun’s cheek. “I love you.”

Jonghyun hesitates to respond. He feels guilty that the night before he was saying those words to Minhyun and now here he is. “I… love you too.”

His husband doesn’t catch his hesitation in the midst of his drunkenness and just giggles, kissing him one more time, “Good night.”

The room is quiet until Youngmin’s soft snores are heard. Jonghyun’s heart is confused and he doesn’t know what to think. This has been a predicament of his, having two men in his heart, but with Youngmin being his husband, he never felt guilty for this, only frustrated. However, with his ex-boyfriend in grasp and him obviously choosing Minhyun over Youngmin, it sinks into his heart and it makes him feel like a horrible person.

Youngmin has been a caring person towards Jonghyun their entire marriage so far. Sure, they had rough patches during their dating life and some of it did carry onto their marriage (ex. Not being able to hang out with his friends too often because of _minor_ trust issues), but Jonghyun does enjoy the parts of their marriage when they don’t have fights. Jonghyun really feels like he does love Youngmin and is happy with him.

_Right?_

He would like to believe that all this time he spent with Youngmin hasn’t been for waste. Like today for example, he enjoyed today. If he ends up with Minhyun, he’s never going to have these memories with Woojin, Daehwi… _Donghyun_ … and of course, Youngmin. Not to mention, Jihoon and Jinyoung are always a treat when he sees them too.

There are so many things he loves about Youngmin and their relationship that he questions if this is all worth it.

Jonghyun sighs as he thinks about why he started this. The constant fights, the longing for Minhyun, the many lies told in order to meet up with his friends more often than his husband will allow. It _has_ been a hard marriage at some points, but considering the happy times too, is it enough to give everything up?

 _“Human willpower changes fate.”_ Joon’s words ring in Jonghyun’s head once again. With this thought, he figures that maybe he’ll just let his fate being decided for him.

He closes his eyes and thinks of his final chance. What does human willpower have to do with his past? It’s confusing because he’s sure that every action in his life requires human willpower.

There is one memory that pops into mind, but it’s a memory he wants to relive the least, so he decides against it. Instead, he figures that if he never cheated on Minhyun, their relationship would’ve been intact. He could even tell Minhyun about Youngmin kissing him so he wouldn’t feel guilty. That’ll be a good plan.

Jonghyun’s thoughts drift to that day until he falls asleep.

  
  
  
  


Jonghyun wakes up and notices Minhyun sleeping next to him peacefully. It’s been a long time since he woke up next to Minhyun considering his first chance back in time, Minhyun was already awake and out of bed. Minhyun looks so peaceful asleep that even though they probably have things to do today, Jonghyun doesn’t even want to wake him up.

Instead, Jonghyun admires Minhyun in his sleep. He vaguely remembers doing this before, but because it’s been years since he’s had the chance to do this, he wants to do it all over again. His eyes first go to Minhyun’s milky white and poreless skin which has always been a feature that Jonghyun is jealous of. Throughout college, Jonghyun struggled with acne and Minhyun could never relate to his troubles. He would use all these different types of skin care while Minhyun would just wash his face and put moisturizer, if he was feeling fancy he would do more (by stealing Jonghyun’s face products) but he never really needed it.

If Jonghyun wasn’t controlling himself to not wake up Minhyun, he would’ve booped Minhyun’s nose right then and there. Minhyun’s nose is cute in Jonghyun’s opinion. Minhyun has always been insecure of its round tip but Jonghyun would tell him time after time that he loves it. Jonghyun especially loves when Minhyun gets upset and his nostrils flare up. Even when Minhyun yells at him for something serious, Jonghyun could never take him seriously because of how cute he looked.

Despite staring into Minhyun’s eyes all night, Jonghyun still wishes he could see into them now. Minhyun’s eyes are deep and lovely. People say eyes are the way to one’s soul and Jonghyun wholeheartedly believes that. It was because of Minhyun’s eyes that started their relationship. With Jonghyun staring at the ground during orientation looking obviously confused, Minhyun and his sharp eyes decided to approach him and be friends, telling himself earlier that he needed to make friends in college and get out of his shell.

Minhyun wouldn’t be Minhyun without his soft pink lips. With his cupid’s bow the shape of a heart, whenever he puckered his lips for a kiss, Jonghyun’s heart will always swoon at the doubled expression of love. Without even touching his lips, he can vividly remember the feeling of them against his own. They are almost always soft as Minhyun is an avid lip balm user, but Jonghyun would always joke around that he’s never complained about things getting a little rough (9/10 times receiving a punch on the arm afterwards).

 _“I missed this sight of you so much,”_ Jonghyun thinks to himself as his heart beats faster, _“You look perfect even in your sleep.”_

Jonghyun remembers that throughout this Minhyun is secretly awake so he squishes both of Minhyun’s cheeks strongly. Minhyun’s eyes open in shock and he tries to push Jonghyun’s hands away, but his boyfriend doesn’t let go.

“Did you know I was awake the entire time?” Minhyun asks with a distorted voice due to the cheek squishing.

“Yeah, but I also wanted to take time to take in the memory of you sleeping next to me since it’s not something I experience often anymore.” Jonghyun blushes, touching his cheeks to check if they’re warming up.

“You’re so cute,” Minhyun sits up and smiles at Jonghyun. “I woke up before you, but I wanted to see how you would wake me up so I pretended to still be asleep but I didn’t expect you to attack me like that.”

Jonghyun kisses Minhyun’s forehead and smiles, “What did you expect me to do? Shower you with kisses? Babe, you know me better than anyone else, so you should know that I wouldn’t do anything cheesy like that.”

Minhyun groans, “A guy could dream, okay?” He holds Jonghyun’s hands, “But we have to get up. We got plans with the guys today. Minki should be back from work soon.”

Jonghyun knows that today is their day to hangout with Dongho, Aron and Minki. Since Minki has been busy traveling around the country for work, it’s a blessing that him coming home is the same weekend of Minhyun’s surprise visit. Nothing much is planned for their day. Mainly just playing video games and catching up.

“Even in my room, I can’t escape them being all lovey-dovey,” Minki groans as he enters the room, duffel bag slinging on his shoulder, “I can’t even say get a room because they are in a room!”

“We weren’t even doing anything, Minki. Stop being so dramatic,” Minhyun rolls his eyes as he gets off the bed, heading towards the bathroom, “I’m gonna wash up first.”

Jonghyun can’t help himself but to watch as Minhyun walks away, his squishy butt moving side to side as he steps. Once the door closes, Jonghyun also gets out of bed, a bright smile on his face as he’s excited for a much needed day with Hwang Minhyun (and friends).

 

The day flies by quickly, especially with Jonghyun getting excited and beating everyone in almost every game they play (“Jonghyun, you’re ruining the fun!” “Well, I’m sorry all of you just suck!”). Jonghyun honestly wishes the time wouldn’t pass by so quickly because he really did miss hanging out with them as five. Sure, he hangs out with Aron and Dongho, (Minki too whenever he’s in town), but of course, Minhyun isn’t involved. Minhyun and Jonghyun snuggle and kiss minimal throughout the day (much to Jonghyun’s disliking), Minhyun not wanting to make their friends uncomfortable. Although he knows they’re used to it, he doesn’t want to spoil the little time they have together as five of them.

It’s like nothing ever changed and it’s weird to Jonghyun. They still laugh and joke around as they used to, despite how much Jonghyun has experienced without them. Granted, this is time travel and they don’t know anything about Jonghyun’s technically future, but he still feels weird about it. It’s different from his first chance where they hung out as five during the end of their university years, however. Jonghyun can’t put his tongue to it on how it’s different. Maybe it’s because there’s also Minhyun who is back from Japan during this memory rather than just an ordinary university day or maybe it’s because he has the sense of urgency knowing that this may be the last time he’ll experience this if he’s wrong.

“Yeah, I usually don’t see Jonghyun because we’re in different departments, but I hear all about how he’s _such_ a good employee from Sungwoon,” Aron laughs, making direct eye contact with Jonghyun and not letting it go, “Jonghyun’s also made a friend. Has he told you about him yet, Minhyun?”

Jonghyun almost chokes on his food during dinner. It dawns on him that every chance he has is a different scenario, meaning last time he stopped the fight with Aron from happening, but this time it still happened. He can’t help but feel worried by Aron’s words.

“Yeah, he did! I’m really happy that he’s making friends. It’s good to make connections with people in your work field.”

Minhyun looks over at Jonghyun and smiles. Jonghyun’s expression quickly changes as he looks back and mirrors his boyfriend’s smile. It almost feels fake, but Jonghyun can’t help himself.

  


After dinner, the alcohol bottles are immediately brought out from the fridge and to the living room. A day of the five of them hanging out isn’t complete until they drink at the end of the night. Usually, someone stays sober to take care of the other four, but because this will be the only time to drink as a group for a while, they ditch that rule. However, Jonghyun tries his best not to drink as much in order for him to act more rationally.

“To us,” Minhyun grins as they hold up their bottles in the air. “To us!”

They all repeat after Minhyun, clicking their bottles together and yelling with bright smiles. They tilt their heads back and take a few swigs before putting the bottles back down. However, it doesn’t take long for all of them to finish, so Jonghyun gets up and grabs more for the rest of them in the kitchen. He stumbles a bit, obviously already tipsy, but he makes it to the fridge. Jonghyun mentally tells himself that he’s done for the night.

“Wait, so, Minhyun,” Dongho slurs, “how long are you planning on staying in Japan for?”

In that split moment, Jonghyun immediately sobers up, freezing right where he is in front of the cold fridge, door open. He doesn’t look back, but simply stands there, his focus all on Minhyun’s upcoming reply.

“I’m honestly not too sure. Recently, I found a big flaw in their business and corrected it, so they really have started to like me. I heard from other people that they’re probably going to promote me, which is really good. It means that I’ll get a lot longer work contract, so everything will feel more stable there,” Minhyun sighs, “But I don’t know. I miss it here a lot. I miss being able to speak Korean, talking to you guys in person, seeing Jonghyun every single day. It’s hard, but this Japan thing has been such a good opportunity for me, it also hurts me to not see this through.”

Jonghyun bites his lip as he doesn’t recall hearing that last part. He remembers interrupting Minhyun mid-conversation and getting upset at him, but this time it’ll be different. This time he won’t be upset but rather be a little bit more accepting of this situation.

“You could’ve at least told me earlier,” Jonghyun sighs as he walks back to the living room after grabbing two more bottles of soju, “But, I’m proud of you for proving your worth to such a major company.”

Minhyun smiles like a fool after he hears Jonghyun’s words, “Thank you babe. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. I wanted to tell you in person so I could comfort you if you were to get upset, but I should’ve mentioned it earlier. I just got so caught up in enjoying our time together that I didn’t want to ruin the mood.”

He holds Jonghyun’s hand and Jonghyun can’t help but smile, “I understand. I do miss you terribly when you’re gone though.” Jonghyun squeezes Minhyun’s hand, “Two years maximum right? Until I’m done with grad school?”

Minhyun nods, “Yes and I wish these two years could go by quickly.” He kisses his boyfriend on the cheek, “But for now, I’ll try my best to visit you as often as I can. I do have a paycheck so I have money to buy plane tickets.”

Jonghyun blushes at the touch of Minhyun’s lips. He leans forward to kiss Minhyun back but he meets the eyes of his three glaring friends and pulls back, “Sorry guys.”

Dongho breaks a smile and laughs, “It’s fine. I’ve literally witnessed you upset over missing Minhyun, so it’s kinda, _kinda_ , heartwarming to see my two best friends happy.”

“Same,” Minki says with Aron following up with some grumbles in which he probably also agrees.

Jonghyun leans on Minhyun, his head resting on the other’s shoulder. His hand never leaves Minhyun’s and he leaves their fingers intertwined as he looks at the sight. It has always been acknowledged in Jonghyun’s heart that Minhyun’s hands fit his own better than Youngmin’s. Holding hands with Minhyun feels like two halves that make a whole rather than two puzzle pieces forced to be complete like with Youngmin.

It feels right and Jonghyun never wants to let go.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


When Jonghyun wakes up once again to Youngmin, his heart aches. He must’ve fell asleep in exhaustion after the night before and regrets it. Jonghyun wishes that he spent more time awake to enjoy every last moment with Minhyun. There was a feeling in his heart that he wasn’t going to get his happy ever ending that he wanted to make his last moments last.

But it’s too late.

Youngmin is still fast asleep as he’s awake an hour earlier than he’s supposed to. He grabs his phone from his nightstand and unlocks it. Just to make sure, he faces towards his husband so he can’t catch a glimpse of his screen. Jonghyun deleted Minhyun’s contact a long time ago, but deep in his online photo drive, he still has pictures during their time together.

It’s been years since Minhyun and Jonghyun have dated, but with the time travel and looking at all these pictures, the memories feel fresh. He remembers how happy he was and how much Minhyun made him smile. Yes, they were like any couple that got into occasional fights, but they were real with each other and understood each other like no one else. Most of their days, Jonghyun felt like they were in their honeymoon phase still because every day, his love for Minhyun felt fresh.

Jonghyun feels stupid. These past years he’s been pushing every memory with Minhyun to the back of his mind. If he thought of him, he refused to think deeply about his ex. With alcohol, it especially became an easy task. It’s because of this that at this moment, this is the first time Jonghyun feels absolutely stupid for everything. He feels stupid for letting his happiness go because of long distance. He feels stupid for hurting someone who meant the entire world to him. The feeling of regret is evident in his heart and he wants to yell and cry.

This is the first time that Jonghyun regrets being with Youngmin.

His whole relationship with Youngmin he told himself he loved Youngmin and Jonghyun still likes to believe that he does, or _did_ . There really isn’t anything wrong with Youngmin besides his _slight_ possessiveness. However, if Jonghyun truly loved Youngmin, he believes that his feelings for Minhyun would’ve been long gone. There would be no wavering in his heart and it would be just Youngmin.

But that was never the case.

Jonghyun gets out of bed, making sure not to wake up Youngmin. Instead of getting ready early, he walks into the living room to try to relax. This was what he had to live with. This is what destiny wanted him to deal with. He believes that this is his punishment for letting go of the love of his life so stupidly.

Through his front window, he sees Joon standing outside and he immediately walks outside. It’s still a bit cold since it is morning. His wife beater and shorts aren’t really fitting but he doesn’t care as he just wants to yell.

“You lied to me all this time, huh?” Jonghyun hisses as soon as he steps out, glaring at the other, “Be honest with me. You’re not actually my guardian angel, but a demon tormenting me.”

Despite knowing it’s no use, Jonghyun swings to punch Joon, but instead of letting it pass through him like last time, Joon grabs Jonghyun’s wrist. He holds it tightly as he looks into Jonghyun’s eyes. “You hesitated. That’s why you are where you are.”

“W-what do you mean?” Jonghyun blinks.

“I told you that human willpower changes fate. I told you that you had to fight destiny. There is only one moment in your life that would’ve defied destiny. It’s the one moment where everyone expected you to stay with Youngmin, but you had the chance of choosing otherwise.”

Joon’s words shake Jonghyun to the core. He knows exactly what Joon is talking about. It’s the one memory he promised never to think about ever again that he didn’t even want to relive it. “N-no. Anything but that. It could’ve been anything, _anything_ , but that. ”

“I told you three chances only, but because I’m _your_ guardian angel, I’m giving you one last chance. However, this time you can’t choose the moment to relive.”

Jonghyun’s eyes go wide. He can feel himself tearing up, “Please, Joon hyung. Anything but that memory. I don’t want this. I don’t want to see him like this. Please. I beg of you.”

Jonghyun tries to get on his knees to beg, but Joon’s grip still holds him tightly to keep him up. In the blink of an eye, before he knows it, Jonghyun finds himself in a completely different location. He looks at his clothes and he’s in a tuxedo.

It’s his wedding day.

“If you don’t want to be with Minhyun, just answer as you did during this time and you’ll be back in your time. However, if you do want to be with Minhyun, you’ll experience every moment after this with him, so no going back,” Joon says in the same serious tone.

“Joon hyung, wait‒”

Before Jonghyun can get a few more words out, Joon is gone once again. His emotions are all over this place as this is the one memory he wishes he could forget. Weddings are supposed to be beautiful and a fun memory, but it’s nothing like that to Jonghyun.

Jonghyun walks to the mirror and looks at himself. He’s a bit amazed as his youth is restored when he travels back. It wasn’t that noticeable because he didn’t dress up the previous times, but this time he was really looking his best.

He hears someone knock on the door and he yells for them to come in. Turning around, he notices that it’s Aron and he smiles softly. Aron walks over and pats him on the back, “It’s time. You’re not going to regret marrying him, right?”

“Everything will be okay, Aron. Don’t worry,” he fake smiles at his friend before walking out and into the venue. He can’t help but wonder if everything will really be okay.

  


The ceremony goes as he remembers. It’s just like every wedding he’s went to ‒ flowers, a boring initiator, vows and rings. Youngmin has a big smile on his face and Jonghyun tries his best to mirror it. When the doors open loudly, Jonghyun knows  that it’s Minhyun coming in just like last time.

“Speak now or forev‒”

“Jonghyun, stop,” Minhyun yells from the back of the hall, “Don’t get married.”

It sends shivers down Jonghyun’s spine hearing this once again. He’s holding Youngmin’s hand as he turns back and he can’t hide his pain with a smile anymore. Minhyun walks closer to him and with every step comes a tugging at his heart. It hurts immensely.

“Jonghyun, please. This is not how things were supposed to go,” Jonghyun can feel the desperation in Minhyun’s voice and he tries to hold back his tears as it’s just as he remembers it, “We were supposed to get married and grow old together.”

Youngmin steps forward, but Jonghyun holds him back as he doesn’t want him to get involved just like last time. This needs to be something Jonghyun faces without interruption.

“You never even told me what went wrong in our relationship. Everything was great but then suddenly you drop me and this man appears in your life instead,” tears fall from Minhyun’s eyes, but he still continues, “We spent our college years together loving each other and I thought it was going to last until forever. I don’t care if you did the most horrible thing in the world. I will always love you. Even if it hurts me, even if it kills me inside, I will always love you because you are you, Kim Jonghyun. I promised you back then that my love for you is unconditional and here I am, telling you once again. Don’t get married and let’s run away now.”

Minki and Dongho go on either side of Minhyun, telling him that he should leave. Aron stands behind him and looks at Jonghyun, and Jonghyun feels Aron encouraging him to run away. Jonghyun knows Aron never approved of Youngmin and always wanted Minhyun and Jonghyun to be the final ending. He pestered Jonghyun about it when Youngmin and him got engaged. However, after the wedding, Aron never mentioned Minhyun again.

Jonghyun doesn’t know what to do.

He knows that it’s not so simple to just run away with Minhyun. The years he spent with Youngmin can’t just be erased no matter how much he wants them to be. Every moment he picked to try to change was moments that would have prevented his relationship with Youngmin. It would’ve prevented ever breaking Minhyun’s trust and his cheating. It would be the happy ending he wanted without any of the hardship.

Jonghyun knows that if he just runs away with Minhyun it would be like the happy moments he experienced going back in time. They would pretend like the last three years never happened. They would be in love like they were before and be at their happiest because that's how their relationship was before. Jonghyun could move to Japan to be with Minhyun since grad school was just about over at this time. Jonghyun could stare into Minhyun’s eyes until the latest of nights if he wanted to and still be in awe, just like before. He could laugh at Minhyun’s jokes and hear his heart laugh like it’s music for the rest of his life. Minhyun’s warm embrace could be his home until the day he dies. That’s all his if he fights destiny and runs away now.

It was at this moment before that Jonghyun realized that every speck of uneasiness he has had with Youngmin is because of his lingering feelings for Minhyun. He realized that he shouldn’t be marrying someone if he is still in love with another man. He knew that he was happier with Minhyun than he ever will be with Youngmin. He knew if he wants to pursue his own happiness he should run away with Minhyun.

When Jonghyun decided not to run away, he pushed those thoughts away as much as he could, but he knows now that the reason why he hasn’t been as happy was because those thoughts tormented him.

It sounds so simple to just run away now, but Jonghyun knows running away would be selfish of him.

It would be selfish for him to just pretend that he never cheated on Minhyun and cut him off for three years for another man. It would be selfish to just leave Youngmin like this after all they went through. Youngmin wants to marry Jonghyun and he assumes that Jonghyun feels the same. Also, their families are here right now to see their beloved family members be happy and get married and it would be selfish to just ruin this wedding.

This was exactly why Jonghyun never told Minhyun that he cheated. For Jonghyun to let go of his guilt by telling Minhyun and passing the pain onto him would be selfish of him. He would be carefree because he confessed his sins and Minhyun would be wondering what went wrong and be insecure until the end.

Because Jonghyun felt like he couldn’t run away like he wanted to. It wasn’t fair for anyone.

But now that he has a second chance to think about this, he knows that he wasn’t fair to himself by choosing to not run away for other people. As much as being selfless is a rather good trait, choosing other people’s feelings over his own happiness destroyed him. It lead to him not living his best life and gave him so much pain. His emotions tormented him and that turned into alcohol dependency and many fights with his husband. During his married life with Youngmin, he never wanted to admit that it was hard for him, but it really was.

At this moment, he has to determine whether it’ll be okay to experience that in order to appease everyone or if he wants to be selfish and chase his happiness.

He thinks of his time with Youngmin and he tries to think of a way he could go back to where he was before and find a way to be truly happy through it all.

As much as he wants to think of an answer, he can’t.

A loud clap rings in the room as he grasps onto Minhyun’s held out hand.

The two immediately run out of the room and he can hear the crowd in uproar. Youngmin yells his name trying to call for him to come back, but Jonghyun doesn’t listen. Minhyun pulls Jonghyun to his car and he quickly starts it up to get out of this messy situation.

“We can talk more when we’re not in this area,” Minhyun smiles as he looks at Jonghyun and Jonghyun feels his stress go away. He’s still not completely convinced that this is the right decision for his life, but he’s already feels happy.

As Minhyun starts to drive off, Jonghyun looks out the window and makes eye contact with Joon who has suddenly appeared. There’s only two words that he can think of to say at the top of his head and he mouths them clearly.

“Thank you.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


 

 

 

 

It’s late afternoon when Jonghyun finally gets out of bed. He would’ve gotten up later because it’s his day off, but the doorbell has been annoyingly ringing for the past minute that he gets up to answer whoever it is.

“What do you‒ _oh_.”

Jonghyun stands in shock as he sees Joon after many years with the same smile as before. “What are you doing here?”

“Surprise!” Joon pulls Jonghyun into a big hug, “I missed you. Can I come in?”

“Sure, of course you can.” Jonghyun opens the door all the way and Joon walks in. Joon immediately plops his body onto the couch. The other sits right next to him, but he can’t help but be in shock that he’s in front of Joon right now.

“Where have you been? I’ve been wanting to get a chance to talk to you for years now,” Jonghyun says.

“Well, guardian angels are with a mortal until their duty is complete and after everything that happened, I was assigned to someone else so I couldn’t come and see you. However, my mortal is nearby so I decided this was the best chance to see and check up on you.” Joon leans back on the couch and smiles, “So, how have you been? How’s Minhyun?”

Jonghyun can’t help but mirror the smile, “If I’m honest, it wasn’t perfect at first, but I expected that after all the mistakes I made. It broke my heart telling Minhyun all that happened with Youngmin and I was honestly afraid that he was going to break up with me right there. Part of me still thinks that he should’ve because that’s what cheaters deserve, right?” He shrugs as Joon doesn’t respond to the rhetorical question.

“I basically had to build up Minhyun’s trust again and it was hard. I never truly realized before how much that time had an emotional toll on him. There would be nights where Minhyun would wake up crying because he would have nightmares of us not being together.”

 

_“Jonghyun,” Minhyun shakes the other awake in the middle of the night with tears in his eyes._

_Jonghyun wakes up and looks at Minhyun, “What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” He uses his sleeve to wipe Minhyun’s tears but the tears just keep falling._

_“You’re not going to leave me again, right? Please, please say you won’t,” the pain in Minhyun’s voice breaks Jonghyun’s heart. One of the promises he made to himself after getting back with Minhyun was for Minhyun to not to be in pain, but nights like this made him feel like he was the problem._

_“I won’t. I won’t,” Jonghyun pecks Minhyun’s lips, “Did you have another nightmare? What happened?”_

_“It was your wedding day with Youngmin, b-but this time y-you said that I should leave and y-you didn’t l-love me.” Minhyun’s breathing is erratic with all his crying, “You love me, right?”_

_Jonghyun pulls Minhyun into a hug, rubbing his back, “I love you. I love you so much. That is a fact, okay? I, Kim Jonghyun, love Hwang Minhyun and Hwang Minhyun only.”_

_Minhyun doesn’t say anything else, but he continues to cry and let all his emotions out until he falls back asleep in exhaustion._

 

Jonghyun bites his lip, “It’s been years, but they still happen occasionally. I’m honestly not sure if Minhyun will truly get over it, but I’m staying with him throughout it all.”

Joon nods, “I had a feeling something like that would happen. Do you know how Youngmin is?”

“Youngmin…” Jonghyun sighs, “After the called off wedding, I told Youngmin about everything I felt during our relationship. I told him that I never truly got over Minhyun and how it was hard for me because I wanted to truly believe that I was in love with him only, but I couldn’t. I made sure that I told him that my feelings for him were genuine in the end. It was just… there was someone else that I couldn’t shake off.”

Jonghyun’s gaze is to the floor as he thinks about his ex, “I had to block him on everything. I didn’t want to honestly, but it felt like the only way for him to get over him. He even bothered Aron constantly since they worked in the same company that Aron quit and worked elsewhere.” He pauses as he thinks about all this once more, his heart filled with guilt, “I know I scarred him. I hurt him and he really didn’t deserve to be hurt because of my stupidity. But, a year ago, I heard from someone that he’s with Donghyun now and all I can do is hope that Donghyun treats him better than I ever did and that Donghyun loves him so much that Youngmin can forget about me.”

“When I’m back in Korea, I’ll check up on him and find out how he’s doing. I don’t know how I’ll relay the information to you, but I’ll try my best. It’s only if you want though,” Joon leans forward and tries to put on a warm smile despite the intense mood.

“That would be nice.”

Joon takes a deep breath and sighs, “So, uhm, any other updates? How are your friends? What are you doing with your life right now?”

Jonghyun manages to smile a bit, “My friends are good. Aron got married and Dongho soon followed after. Minki says he plans on being a bachelor for the rest of his life, but I don’t know how that’ll turn out. And right now,” Jonghyun looks around the room, “Obviously, I’m here in Japan. I work at an entertainment company that deals with Korean artists doing similar work that I did in Korea. My apartment with Minhyun right now is small, but it’s because we’re saving up for house when we move back to Korea eventually. Once we go back, that’s when we’ll get married and hopefully adopt kids. Not sure how that’ll all pan out though.”

Joon’s smile becomes more genuine as he pulls Jonghyun into a hug, “I’m so happy for you. It really hurt me seeing your situation before, but,” Joon pulls back to look at Jonghyun, “there is one last question I need to ask.”

Jonghyun raises a brow, “What is it?”

“Are you happy with how things are now?”

Jonghyun thinks about it carefully. He thinks of his time before with all the pain and frustration. He did it all to be selfless and for the others around him to be happy. A part of him thought that their happiness would spread to him, but it wasn’t the case. Yes, he faced a lot of backlash from his family, watching Minhyun was extremely hard, and hearing about Youngmin’s brokenness was hard for him too. When Joon first went up to him and told him about giving him a happy ending, he didn’t think it would be including any of the hardship he experienced. He initially thought it would just be perfect and no one would be hurt. He thinks about whether this was all worth it to get to where he is today.

With a bright smile, Jonghyun looks at his former guardian angel and answers him.

“Yes, I am happy.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


‒

**Author's Note:**

> let's run away now is my baby and for a while i really didn't want to do a sequel because i love how it ended despite how many of you yelled at me for all the pain. however, if i was going to write a sequel this was the only way i wanted to do it. i really hope you enjoyed this sequel and i hope that it was more than enough for all of those begging for a sequel.  
> also if any of you were wondering "human willpower changes fate" is a quote from goblin that felt so fitting for this fic that i had to add it. like, i didnt want it to be simple how jonghyun ends up with minhyun it needed to be a way that felt real and passionate(?) if that makes sense
> 
> as usual, please feel free to talk to me about 2hyun (or any other pd101 ship) on [twitter](https://twitter.com/foxhyuns)  
> or send me plots you would like a short whip/drabble of at my [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/btobooty)  
> 


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